Every week Untapped Cities hosts tours and events designed to help you explore New York City from a new perspective! Here are the urban adventures you can take part in this week:

Thursday, August 2nd

From Grit to Hip, A Walking Tour of Williamsburg

Photograph by Sofia Andrade A. Cirino for Untapped Cities

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:

• Discover how Williamsburg was originally created as a real estate development to attract wealthy Manhattanites and trace the footprint of this long-gone era of Williamsburg
• Learn about the counter culture which thrived in the neighborhood during the 90’s and where this history is being preserved today
• Locate and decipher works of art from today’s creative community including the mosaic glass water tower and shed by renowned artist Tom Fruin
• See the Mona Lisa of Williamsburg and hear the story behind it

From Grit to Hip, a Williamsburg Walking Tour

Outdoor Screening of Naked City at the Museum of the City of New York

As part of their outdoor film series Moonlight & Movies, The Museum of the City of New York will present Jules Dassin’s dazzling 1948 film noir The Naked City outside on the museum’s terrace! The film, which was shot on location in New York City and won two Academy Awards, follows New York City detectives from glamorous Park Avenue Apartments to the gritty streets of the Lower East side as they track down the killer of an ex-model. The screening will be preceded by an introduction by author, filmmaker, and architect James Sanders.

If you are or become and Untapped Cities Insider, you can attend this event for free!

Friday, August 3rd

Tour the Historic Home of Alexander Hamilton at Hamilton Grange National Memorial

The Grange is believed to be the only home ever owned by founding father Alexander Hamilton. After being uprooted and relocated twice, once in 1889 and again in 2008, the house now sits in St. Nicholas Park, in the historic Hamilton Heights section of Harlem, on land that Hamilton owned in the early 1800s. On this tour led by the National Park Service you will see historically furnished rooms that are only accessible with a guide and learn what life in the 19th century was like for the Hamilton family at the Grange.

If you are or become and Untapped Cities Insider, you can attend this tour for free!

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Saturday, August 4th

Behind the Scenes Hard Hat Tour of the Abandoned Ellis Island Hospital

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:

• Explore the over 100-year-old contagious disease hospital, which has been abandoned since 1954
• See an exhibition by the world-renowned artist JR, who has placed life-sized historic photographs of Ellis Island immigrants on interior walls of the hospital buildings
• Visit the Laundry Building, where 3000+ pieces of laundry were washed and sanitized daily
• Discover the kitchen, autopsy room and other usually off-limits places
• Get special access inside the original morgue and long abandoned FBI offices

Behind-the-Scenes Hard Hat Tour of the Abandoned Ellis Island Hospital

Tour the Secrets of Grand Central Terminal

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:

• Learn about the secrets of one of NYC’s most iconic buildings
• See Grand Central’s hidden tennis courts
• Peek into the entrance of the glass walkways
• Learn about the design flaw as large as Grand Central Terminal‘s main atrium
• Discover a multi-million dollars jewel hidden in plain sight and more!

Tour of the Secrets of Grand Central Terminal

Underground Tour of the NYC Subway System

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:

• Explore City Hall Park as the birthplace of the NYC subway system, including elements of the famed, decommissioned City Hall Station you can see right in the park
• Learn about the comically short route of the mythical “Subway before the Subway,” Alfred Ely Beach’s Pneumatic Transit System
• See the architectural ghosts of the now nearly forgotten, and partially abandoned, Chambers Street station then nicknamed the “Grand Central of Downtown”
• Use the 6 train as your own time machine as you ride through abandoned subway stations
• Discover the remnants of Union Station as you learn about a hidden art installation thousands of riders walk by everyday

Underground Tour of the NYC Subway

Sunday, August 5th

Tour the Secrets of Grand Central Terminal

The story of Grand Central Terminal is that of New York City itself: the structure embodies the social, cultural, economic and technological evolution around it. It is one of great men, feuding architects, ingenuity, rejuvenation, secrets and surprises. We will show you what it was like in the booming age of the railroad, as a rundown embarrassment, and as a renovated jewel at the center of the city. Together, we will explore the interesting and unique spaces produced for and by it. Whether you pass through it every day on your morning commute or stroll through the Beaux Arts beauty for the first time, you are sure to leave having learned, seen, or experienced something new and extraordinary.

Tour of the Secrets of Grand Central Terminal

Secrets of Central Park Walking Tour

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:

• Hear about the massive civic project that transformed a wasteland into an urban pleasure ground
• Learn about the curious origins of the Central Park Zoo and the corruption scandal that caused a riot
• Uncover the hidden meaning in Bethesda Terrace’s sculptures and the forbidden love that inspired the park’s most famous statue
• See the secret bolt left behind from the creation of Manhattan’s street grid
• Discover the secret navigational device that keeps pedestrians from getting lost on the park’s winding paths

Secrets of Central Park Walking Tour

Behind the Scenes Hard Hat Tour of the Abandoned Ellis Island Hospital

The abandoned Ellis Island Hospital complex—once the standard for United States medical care (and later transformed to the FBI headquarters when the island served as a detention center)—has been left to decay for nearly 60 years. Now, Untapped Cities is bringing you behind-the-scenes for a unique exploration of the abandoned facility; on this experience, you’ll visit the contagious disease wards, the autopsy rooms and have exclusive access to places usually closed to the public.

Behind-the-Scenes Hard Hat Tour of the Abandoned Ellis Island Hospital

See our full list of upcoming tours and Insiders events!